John Calvert 1999

JOHN CALVERT 1947 - 1954

             I’ve now had the pleasure of being the Association President for the past eight months and have enjoyed making new friends and renewing acquaintance with old ones.

            The attendance at our lunches is encouragingly high but, unless the former members of the Sixth Form College join the Association, it will die of natural causes before the end of the next century. Perhaps the only thing that could save us from extinction would be a return to the Grammar School system and that is about as likely as our town teams winning the RL and FA Cups in the same season!

           It is perhaps understandable that the pupils of the Sixth Form College cannot relate to us as the two years they spend together as young adults studying different subjects cannot really match the bonding created by eleven-year olds starting out and staying together for as long as seven years.

            A great way to meet your classmates is to hold a reunion at one of our quarterly lunches or even at the Annual Dinner, of which more later. One spin-off from a reunion is that an increase in membership of the Association is almost guaranteed following the joy of seeing old friends after many years.

            Gone are the days when you had to have a letter from the Holy Ghost to obtain a ticket for the Annual Dinner. The President of the Old Barrovians would propose a toast to the School, and the Headmaster would give a peroration to a packed male-only gathering at the Victoria Park Hotel, very much as if he were at Assembly. This would be followed by another lengthy speech by a local worthy and we would sit in our dinner jackets to the bitter end, or rather, waiting until we could get at the bitter at the end! The diners declined in such numbers that the event was not held for several years until being resurrected by John Ratcliffe, John Winder and others. The Dinner today is a much more intimate and informal occasion with no formal speeches. Wives, husbands, 

           In early September, I was invited to present the George L Temple Award. The Award has been initiated by an ex-Barrovian, George Temple, who is 94 years old and lives in America. It consists of a bursary of £300 and a bronze plaque inscribed with the recipient’s name. Eligibility for consideration was any Sixth Form female student progressing to higher education to study art. 

This year’s recipient was Helen Bradley who was described by Ed Elvish, Principal of the College as “a model to all of how artistic success needs not only creativity but also determination and hard work”. Helen (who is no relation to the famous northern artist of the same name) is going to de Montfort University, Leicester this month to study fine art and we wish her happiness and success there. The presentation was preceded by an introduction to the Award together with background information on George Temple by Derek Lyon in his own knowledgeable and cheerful manner.

            Concurrent with this Presidency, I also have the honour of being President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Kendal and have lost no time in securing the talents of two Old Barrovians for our calendar of events. No longer are our monthly meetings saturated with insurance-related topics, tea and biscuits and formal votes of thanks. Occasionally we go wild and have an outside visit to a prison ship (!) or the gas works. Now it’s down to the pub, very little formality and an interesting programme of events including walkabout photographic treasure hunts, light hearted quizzes and talks on interesting topics outside the insurance industry.       

You will be interested to know (but not surprised!) that the insurance quiz king over many years has been an Old Barrovian, John Gill, 1951-1956, who lives in Kendal. John has been the Honorary Treasurer of the Insurance Institute for the past 28 years and is still going strong - a wonderful achievement.         

Two of the speakers this year will, as mentioned before, be Old Boys, namely Derrick Gould and Derek Lyon. Derrick, who will be speaking about Britain’s role in the European Space Agency has just been created a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics -  an honour only held by a handful of Britons and we congratulate him on his international reputation. Derek Lyon, who has a reputation of a more earthy sort [any litigation possible here, Derek?! - Eds.], is a past Chairman of the Voluntary Warden Service, will be speaking about caring for the Lake District National Park. You can rest assured that I will be praising the value of having had a Barrow Grammar School education to my Kendalian friends.

            Finally, on behalf of the Officers of the Association I thank you for your continued support and look forward to the remainder of our year.